Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

J o awoke to the aroma of cinnamon buns. She stretched, the events of the previous day still swirling in her mind. The information Mick had found about the old bank loan was quite interesting, but what did that have to do with Alex’s death? Alex’s death was the case they were working, and she needed to keep her investigating thoughts on that.

She padded into the kitchen, where Bridget was bustling about, her hair pulled back from her flushed face. “Morning, sis,” Bridget said, sliding a plate of warm cinnamon buns across the counter.

Jo smiled, grabbing a roll and taking a bite. “Thanks, Bridge. These are amazing.”

Bridget grinned. “I was thinking about making a shepherd’s pie for Garvin and one for Kevin. Are you going to Garvin’s again tonight?”

Jo nodded, her mouth full of cinnamon and sugar. She swallowed then said, “Yep. Gonna stop by after work.”

Jo walked over to the window, cinnamon bun in hand. She peered out at the porch. Pickles was snoozing contentedly, his tail twitching occasionally. Jo smiled. “Looks like Pickles has finally decided to make himself at home.”

Bridget joined her at the window, grinning. “About time. He knows where his bread is buttered.”

Jo nodded, her expression thoughtful. “I’ll see if I can work on Garvin about him. He didn’t seem to mind when I told him we were feeding a stray cat on the porch, but maybe I can get him to agree to us having the cat inside.”

“I’ll be sure to make the shepherd’s pie extra tasty so he’s in an agreeable mood.”

Jo laughed and turned away from the window, her mind already back on the case. “I gotta get to work. See you there later?”

“Yep. I’ll drop off the pies later this afternoon so you can go straight to Garvin’s with his.”

“Perfect.”

On her way to work, Jo stopped at Brewed Awakening and arrived at the station with a box of donuts.

“Donuts!” Reese jumped up from her desk. “I hope there’s a Boston cream.”

Jo opened the box and tilted it toward Reese. “There’s only one. Better take it before one of the guys gets it.”

Wyatt, Kevin, and Sam were already in the squad room. Jo passed around the box and sat on the edge of her desk. “Are we going to search the woods today?”

Sam nodded, grabbing a chocolate glazed donut. “That’s the plan, but let’s give it some time to warm up. It’s frigid out there.”

Jo eyed Sam. “Are you sure you even want to? It’s been decades, and it’s a long shot there is anything there.”

Sam shrugged. “I know, but it’s been bugging me, and you know how I hate to leave any stone unturned.”

The team gathered around the box of donuts, sipping their coffee. Lucy watched each bite intently, her tail wagging in anticipation of a crumb falling her way. Major sat perched on the edge of the filing cabinet as if paying attention to the conversation.

Sam leaned forward, his expression serious. “Before we get started, I need to fill you all in on something Mick discovered about the Eric Feldman case.”

The team exchanged curious glances as Sam continued. “It turns out there was an investigation into a loan between the bank and Convale, and all the records were destroyed in the robbery explosion.”

Kevin’s eyes widened. “You think the robbery might have been a cover-up for the fact they wanted those records destroyed?”

Sam shrugged. “Maybe. It’s convenient, but we don’t have any positive proof. It’s all just hearsay right now.”

“Do you think this is related to Alex’s murder?” Wyatt asked.

Sam held up a hand. “I’m not sure, and it’s not something we should be focusing on right now. Our priority is finding Alex’s killer. We can’t spend too much time on this old case, but it’s something to keep in the back of our minds when considering motive.”

Reese handed a paper to Sam. “Joe from the crime lab faxed this over. They found some fingerprints on the suitcase and money we found at Alex’s. Some match Alex Sheridan, and some are unidentified.”

Sam looked at the paper and nodded. “Well, that doesn’t help much right now. Maybe if we can make an arrest, we’ll match those unknown prints.”

Reese nodded. “So what’s next?”

Sam stood up, grabbing a donut. “We’ll search the area the other money was found at this morning. It’s a long shot that we’ll find anything related to Alex’s case there, but I want to be thorough.”

“I got some coordinates from the files of the original case.” Reese licked a blob of cream from the side of her donut. “Put it on your desk.”

“Good work,” Sam said. “That will help narrow it down. And I invited Harry to join us. Figured he might remember something.”

“I fired up the metal detector earlier. Works fine.” Wyatt pointed to a gizmo leaning in the corner. They didn’t use the department metal detector too often, but Sam figured it might come in handy this time.

“Sounds good. That should help with this snow cover.”

“I found something interesting too…” Wyatt wiped his hands with a napkin and headed back behind his desk. “About Amelia Donovan.”

Sam raised a brow. “Oh?”

Wyatt leaned forward, his expression serious. “Amelia has some trouble with the law. A restraining order was taken out against her a few years ago. Turns out she might be a bit of a stalker. The restraining order was from a boyfriend that tried to break up with her.”

Sam rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe Amelia didn’t just want Alex’s job. Maybe there was more.”

“And maybe that explains why she wasn’t around yesterday,” Jo said. “I’d be curious to see if she’s in today.”

“Right. Don’t want to jump to conclusions. She really could have just taken the day off,” Sam said.

Jo sipped her coffee. “Sure, but there’s another thing too. Remember Amelia mentioned something about Alex drinking and smoking cigars with his grandfather?”

Sam nodded. “Yeah, thought that was weird.”

“How would she know that if she didn’t know Alex a lot better than she says she did?” Jo asked.

“Good point. Guess she would have had to know him on a personal level to be with him and his grandfather,” Sam said.

“Unless she just ran into them around town,” Wyatt interjected.

“So you never got to ask Amelia why she lied about being at the Drunken Moose the night Alex was killed?” Kevin asked.

Jo shook her head. “But we did get to question Marnie about the argument. She suddenly remembered what it was about. Said she caught Alex looking through her day planner.”

“So Marnie was lying,” Kevin said, leaning back in his chair.

“Yeah, but she used the excuse that she didn’t want to cast Alex in a bad light,” Jo said, her brow furrowed.

“What’s so bad about looking in her day planner?” Reese asked.

“She said it contained confidential information, like a contact list of her donors and supporters.”

Reese’s eyes widened. “Oh! That reminds me. Marnie faxed over something for you. I bet it’s that list.”

Wyatt nodded. “We should compare that to the outgoing calls. Alex changed that phone system for a reason.”

The station door squeaked, and Harry walked in. “What are you all sitting around for? We have a big patch of woods to search.”

Sam glanced out the window. “Has it warmed up?”

“Little bit.” Harry turned to look out the door. “Sun is out, so it should be good by the time we get there.”

“Okay, then. Let’s go.”

Lucy was the first to jump up. She trotted over to Reese and nuzzled her hand as if to say good-bye, then she looked back at Sam and trotted to the door.

“Guess someone is ready.” Sam followed Lucy.

Jo was the last one out, noticing that Major jumped down from his position on top of the filing cabinet and trotted behind her. As she walked out the door, she looked back to see Major had hopped up onto Reese’s desk, and both were watching them wistfully as if wishing they could go along.

Harry rode in the back seat of the Tahoe with Lucy. Jo rode shotgun and Sam drove, Wyatt and Kevin followed in the Crown Victoria police car. As they drove out to the Websters’ property, Harry regaled them with stories of the original search. “We scoured that place,” he said, his voice gruff with memory. “Never found a damn thing. But I always had a feeling we missed something.”

Jo glanced at him in the rearview mirror. “Like what?”

Harry shrugged. “Just a hunch. I mean, the bag was there, but there had to be more. How did it get there? Someone must have been on that helicopter and either pushed it or jumped out with it.”

“Maybe there was a fight on the helicopter, and it got pushed out,” Sam said.

“Or fell,” Jo added.

“Maybe. I bet Lucy finds something today.” Harry settled back in his seat, his eyes drifting closed. “Wake me when we get there,” he mumbled.

Lucy rested her head on his knee, her eyes watchful. Jo couldn’t help but smile at the sight. Despite his gruff exterior, Harry had a soft spot for the dog.

As they pulled up to the Websters’ property, Harry sat up, his eyes alert. “Let’s do this,” he said, reaching for the door handle.

After walking around a bit, Harry pointed to a crop of birch trees. “I think we found the bag over there. I remember those birches. They were just saplings back then.”

Lucy trotted over, sniffed around, and seemed to agree.

They spread out and crunched through the snow, searching.

“This isn’t the best time to search. Anything we might spot by eye is covered in snow,” Sam said.

Jo glanced over at the Webster property that they could barely see through the tree trunks. Digging was still going on.

“No word yet, huh?” Kevin looked at Jo sympathetically.

Jo shook her head. “No.”

Wyatt looked grim. “There’s a lot of bodies there.”

Sam frowned. “Too much for one old lady.”

“She must have been doing that for a long time,” Kevin said.

Wyatt was still staring at the graves. “Or she had help.”

Suddenly, Lucy started chuffing and digging in the snow. They all headed over to the spot which was in an area dense with underbrush.

Jo moved closer, her boots sinking into the powdery snow. “What is it, girl?”

Lucy barked excitedly, her tail wagging as she looked at Wyatt.

“You think I need to use this?” Wyatt asked, turning on the metal detector and sweeping it over the area.

Suddenly, the detector let out a sharp ping. “There’s something here,” Wyatt said, his brow furrowed in concentration. “Let’s see if we can narrow it down.”

He handed a long, thin device to Kevin and instructed, “When I sweep over the area and the detector goes off, I’ll move it in circles to locate the center. Then you can go in with the smaller instrument to find the exact spot.”

They worked together, Wyatt moving the detector in ever-tightening circles until Kevin marked a spot. He brushed the snow away carefully, using the device again to make sure he hadn’t cleared away the target.

“I think I’ve got it.” Kevin held up a small object about the size of a dime. They wiped away the grime to reveal a gold pin. In the center was a tiny pinhead-sized ruby, glinting in the weak winter sunlight. Engraved on the pin were the number ten and a delicate tree design.

“Probably someone lost that in the woods,” Jo said, examining the pin. “Likely not related to the case.”

Harry held out his hand. “Let me see that.” He squinted at the pin, turning it over in his fingers. “Why, that’s an old service pin.”

Wyatt frowned. “What in the world is a service pin?”

Harry explained, “They don’t do it much anymore, but back in my day, companies used to give out pins for years of service.”

Jo’s eyes widened. “So this could be from the time of the robbery?”

Harry nodded. “It could be.”

Sam’s brow furrowed. “But is it related?”

Harry shrugged. “That’s a good question. If it fell off of someone on the helicopter, it could be.”

Harry shrugged. “More likely, it’s just been sitting here.”

“Probably, but Lucy thought enough about it to alert us, so we might as well bag it up as evidence.”

Harry nodded and handed it to Kevin, who had produced an evidence bag. “Can’t hurt.”